May 2016

If there’s one thing I have come to appreciate in the technology world over the last decade, it has been the Apple ecosystem. It’s really amazing, and there are a lot of advancements that wouldn’t have happened without their innovation. With that said, and with the benefit of using their products a lot, I’d like to toss out my “WHY AREN’T YOU DOING THIS YET” list.

Caveats… I know that when you say “it’s easy”, it isn’t. I know this very well. There may be “reasons” I don’t know, but then again, I don’t know them. So here we go, in no particular order:

3. iPhone is now auto-lock at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 minutes. Why can’t there be a 10 and 15? Better, have a different setting when on a charger.

4. A landscape mode on iPhone Music. (This one bugs me a lot.)

5. If you can have a “prior app” target the size of 8pt font, then you can make a desktop option of apps in a list, sans icons. This would mean you could have about 300 apps listed on one desktop screen instead of limiting to 24. Paging and Folders are not intuitive, nor are page flips.

6. Apple Watch should have a SECONDS counter on the Modular face. Hell, there is no seconds counter on the watch, unless it’s a graphic needle. That’s hard to believe.

7. Apple Watch has a Swipe From Top, and Bottom. Why isn’t there a Swipe from Left or Right?

8. Why can’t the date appear near the time on iPhone?

9. Why can’t the iPhone emulator be available on a Mac? I bought the apps, so why can’t I install them as an emulated service? Some of the apps are truly better than any conventional app, so why not let signed apps run on hardware?

10. Why can I no longer anchor the dock to the corners in Mac OS? Why remove that?

11. Why are backups and photos automatically assumed and maintained until 80% of the drive is filled? I shouldn’t have to turn that off via terminal commands.

12. When I ping my phone from my watch, it makes a loud ding. How about turning on the lock screen so I can see it, too?

13. Why isn’t “Apple TV” just an app on my phone? Like the v3 style, pre-apps.

These are some of the things that could be “fixed”, and “quickly”. There are a lot of upgrades I’d like to see, but all of these are more about usability and options that are, to me, questionably missing. That said, if we’re talking other things like Windows, this list would be much, much longer, so take this for what it is; constructive criticism.

I had the distinct privilege of working with all of these guys for 5 years, and several before as a volunteer. What they don’t mention are all the Emmys and “real jobs” these guys have. Oprah, NFL, NASCAR, the Olympics… absolutely top-notch. I had the pleasure of getting their production online, and we were able to share this broadcast worldwide. It was some of the most difficult work I’ve done, but definitely an amazing, rewarding experience.

There are countless others on the list of professionals that make this broadcast and recording awesome, and I’ve had the benefit of meeting so many of them. However, for the gentlemen in this video, it’s about time that they had the camera on them. They are all technically incredible, but it is their combination that makes magic. Many of them were also performers many moons ago, as was I, and when you know what it takes to do that, it’s no wonder this crew puts so much into their craft.